[North Road — Eastern Island — Day 74 — 3:31 PM]
The angel moved before Alex finished saying yes.
Not toward the team.
Toward Alex.
Only Alex.
The speed wasn't the speed of a bearer activating a Fragment or a high‑level creature sprinting. It was the speed of something that doesn't accelerate because it already operates at maximum as a base state — one instant in its original position and the next instant in contact with its target, without the intermediate time the human eye needs to register movement.
The angel's fist found Alex's torso.
Not a measured strike. The angel's mass at maximum speed concentrated at the point of contact — the kind of impact that doesn't distinguish between what's in the way and what isn't because at that speed, the distinction doesn't exist.
Alex was launched.
Thirty meters.
